'10 million Indians want to move to US'

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Last Updated: Fri, Mar 22, 2013 06:20 hrs

Washington: Some 10 million Indians say they would like to leave their country and move to the US permanently - the No. 1 desired destination for potential migrants around the world, according to a new poll.

They are among 138 million people, making up about 13 percent of the world's adults - or about 630 million people - who want to make the US their new home, according to the Gallup survey of over half a million adults in 154 countries between 2010 and 2012.

The Britain (42 million), Canada (37 million), and France (10 million) also rank among the top choices for potential migrants.

The 154 countries represent more than 98 percent of the world's adult population; 3 percent of that population would like to relocate to the US permanently.

Indians form the third largest group of people after China (19 million) and Nigeria (13million) who would like to move to the US permanently, the Gallup said noting potential migrants are logically the most likely to come from some of the most populous countries in the world.

However, other populous countries such as Iran and Pakistan do not have large groups of people who say that they would like to move to the US permanently.

Instead, Pakistanis most desire to relocate to Saudi Arabia and Britain and Iranians would prefer to move to Jordan or Lebanon.

This is not surprising, as Iranians and Pakistanis have some of the lowest US leadership approval ratings in the world, Gallup said.

Three countries with the highest percentages of people who would like to relocate to the US permanently are in Africa, seven are in Central America and the Caribbean, with the remaining country, Cambodia, in Asia.

The US remains the most popular destination in the world for potential migrants, the opinion poll agency said likely because of economic opportunities in the country and the established networks of potential migrants.

In addition, the US again tied with Germany in 2012 as the country with the highest leadership approval ratings in the world, but when it comes to a desired place to live permanently, no other country compares with the US, it said.